S. Korea to give 370,000 masks to Koreans adopted overseas

South Korea will provide 370,000 face masks to Koreans adopted overseas to help them fight the new coronavirus, the foreign ministry said Sunday.

Starting Monday, 210,000, or 60 percent of the total, will be sent to the United States, where the number of Korean adoptees is the largest, and the remainder will be distributed to 13 other countries, according to the ministry.

Among some 167,000 Koreans adopted overseas, 110,000 live in the US. Other countries with Korean adoptees include France, Denmark, Sweden and Australia, it said.

South Korea originally planned to send some 100,000 masks abroad but has increased the number following high demand from across the world.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Sunday that South Korea can export or provide some masks in humanitarian assistance to other countries, noting that the supply is now stable in the country.

"The recent mask supply has more than doubled compared to that of January, and the stocks for the public distribution system are also being stably secured," Chung said during a government meeting on the response to COVID-19. (Yonhap)